It is unconscionable in the 21st century for any nation to declare war against another nation, especially a nation imprisoned in an apartheid-style concentration camp, over a criminal murder that should be tried in a criminal court where evidence is presented and the guilty tried and sentenced. The 81 dead Palestinians massacred by advanced Israeli weapons did not kill those 3 Israeli teens. The 18 dead Palestinian children did not kill those Israeli teens. What a barbaric monstrosity, and the collective guilt of the bloodshed from this collective punishment falls not just on Israel, but also the United States, who robotically keeps repeating that the Israelis have a right to defend themselves, and the UN, who issues a statement that right away blames the Palestinians, but secondarily has softer words begging Israel to exercise ‘restraint’. This line of scripted speeches from the U.S. and UN are no longer valid and are in fact repulsive. We implore Israel to immediately stop the massacre, and also to stop purposely letting outdated missiles into Palestinian territory in order to give Israel a pretext for excessive collective punishment against the innocent. The deaths of the Israeli teens are crimes indeed, but a much bigger crime is being visited on the Palestinians who had nothing to do with either the teen deaths or the missiles being fired into Israeli areas (which are easily knocked out of the sky by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile technology). For all those in the West who claim to be Christian but sanction this violence and bloodshed, you are liars, because Jesus Christ said love your enemies, love your neighbors as yourselves. How is this love? There’s no such thing as a just war to justify disobeying a basic tenet of Jesus Christ. Enough is enough.

The Palestinian death toll has risen to 81 as Israel continues airstrikes on the third day of Operation Protective Edge. At least 18 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday.

The figure reported by health sources to RT comes hours after the previous fatalities count of 64, voiced by the Palestinian side on Thursday morning.

Earlier emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the a night strike targeted a coffee shop in the city of Khan Younis, killing six men and wounding at least 15 others, AFP reported.

A second strike hit the home of Raed Shalat at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing him and injuring several others, Qidra added.

Seven people – three women and four children – were killed in further strikes on two houses in Khan Younis. The Palestinian Health Ministry said five of those killed were children. Another 16 people were also wounded in the attack, the ministry added.